


Cause and Effect

by dreamchaser31



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Awesome Bucky Barnes, Awesome Jane Foster, Civil War (Marvel), Darcy Lewis is Tony Stark's Daughter, F/M, Jane Foster is Bruce Banner's daughter, Serum Enhance Jane Foster
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-07
Updated: 2015-09-18
Packaged: 2018-04-19 11:43:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4745063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamchaser31/pseuds/dreamchaser31
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Red Skull returns it's more than for power, it's to build up his own army. With the Civil War ripping the Avengers apart. Stark is on the manhunt. Darcy is falling in love with the enemy, and Jane is wondering just where she fits into this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The warehouse is abandoned, anybody could see that, let alone a former soviet trained assassin. _Must be a trick._ Bucky makes his way into the warehouse, gun hoisted, listening for any signs of life that could give him a clue as to why his contact sent him here. The doors are rusty, squeaking as he pushes his way through them. _Well shit, so much for surprises._ The lower level is dim, the air smells musky, and the leaves crunch under his boots. __Definitely not a HYDRA base._ They're all about the pomp._

 

He stands and rubs the back of his head in confusion when he hears boots on the cement behind him, quickly he pulls the gun up and aims at the intruder.

 

"At ease soldier," the command was given by a dark man with an eye patch. "We didn't think you'd actually come. We heard you were operating under HYDRA's nose, taking out one HYDRA operative at a time. You're a brilliant marksman Sergeant Barnes. It's no wonder HYDRA chose you to do their dirty work for them."

 

Bucky's breathing eases and he eases his arm down, the gun dangling in his hand as he watches the dark man talk to him. "How do you know my name? Who are you?"

 

"My name is Nick Fury. Former director of SHIELD. And I know you because of that same reason."

 

Bucky's eyes narrow as he hoists his gun up again. "You're HYDRA? Is that it? Why are you here? You want to take me in. I'm afraid I can't let you do that. I've come to far."

 

"At ease. I'm no part of HYDRA. Honestly, I knew nothing about you until Captain Rogers talked to me the day before that attack. I'm sorry what they did to you. Hell of a way to live. But I have been keeping an eye on you, Barnes. That's what I do. You took out that last operative out through three walls."

 

Bucky stands, his eyes still narrow as he eyes the man, "I remember you. You're dead. Or died. I killed you."

 

"You definitely through a punch, that 's for damn sure," Fury runs a hand over his chest in remembrance. "It takes a lot more than a few Soviet made slugs to bring me down."

 

"Why are you here? Why am I here?"

 

"That contact you've had the last month? That's me. You're here because I need you're help."

 

"A mission? I don't do missions anymore."

 

"Not a mission. Well sort of. An important one. Probably the most important one you'll ever do you're entire life."

 

"That's what they always said."

 

"Well. They were liars. I _always_ speak the truth. I'm nice like that."

 

Bucky sighs, and runs a hand through his hair. He wants a shower, a shower would be nice. Modern technology advances had benefits. Showers are the one he likes the most. A shower, and maybe a nice home cooked meal. He misses his ma. She was gone now, of course. But she always knew what he needed. His ma, Steve's ma. He misses the punk as well. It'd be so easy to just go and talk to him. He saw the monster robot attack. Punk had moves. A shower, home cooked meal, and maybe some sleep. Sleep sounds nice.

 

 "What do you got?"

 

"A couple years ago, there was an attack in London. Portals opened to new worlds, and Elves invaded the earth. Thor fought them off, and we managed to keep the actual reality of the whole attack a secret. Thor and his people complied with SHIELD and we in turn were able to keep his associates out of it. Until last year when SHIELD fell, and one of my agents was forced to dump every single piece of Intel onto the internet for the entire universe to see. SHIELD had secrets. But some of those secrets were there to keep people safe. To keep very, very, very smart people safe. People who could be used as collateral," He tosses Bucky a wrapped sandwich, and motions to a back room, an office. The soldier follows him tiredly, listening as he turns on the lights, and shuts the door. "We protect our own, because these people are useful in what they give us."

 

"What does the Elf attack have anything to do with what is going on now? With HYDRA?"

 

"I was getting there. The portals were opened, and somebody came through. Somebody that both you and Cap know," he pushes his tablet at him, and Bucky's eyes widen at the picture of the Red Skull. Alive and well. _Well shit._

 

"How is he alive?"

 

"How are you alive? How is the Captain? We have no idea how the serum works, but we do know that something was in the works. HYDRA was prepping another batch for another Super Soldier program. They wanted double the whammy. And since Red Skull came through, I'm afraid that they were successful. All they were doing was waiting for the right body. We have sensors in with a contact that we have. He made it through all their tests, and is there for the time being. But he needs to pull out. He's got a family. And they have a person. Problem is. It's a girl. Now I know it's the twenty first century and all that. And it's not a problem that she's actually a female. The problem is. She's a female that has a vast amount of knowledge of the universe and it's workings. In fact she just won the Nobel Prize in physics. She's a brilliant, brilliant girl."

 

"So she's smart? I want no part of the Red Skull. Crazy bastard that he is. He's probably even more insane now."

 

"Problem is. It's not just that she's smart. It's that she's taken, by one my strongest arms, and if anything happened to her, it could mean chaos for the entire universe. We're not in contact with him now. It's hard to stay in contact with him. But we know that there is somebody reporting our every move to him, and if we take one wrong step here, we're goners."

 

"If he's that powerful, then why doesn't he do it?"

 

"He's not on Earth. And when he comes, people will know before he even touches the ground. And there's a rule he has to follow about not interfering with every event on Earth. He left to investigate strange happenings with the infinity gems that could potentially destroy the universe. We'd like it if he could do that, and focus on that, while we can handle this."

 

"How do you know the recreation of the serum was successful?"

 

"We don't. But that's not a risk I'm willing to take Barnes. Not for this girl."

 

_Well shit._

 

 

 

 

"What do you mean the government wants us to register with them? What kind of bull shit is this, Stark?"

 

"Steve. I think this is a good idea, somebody needs to be held accountable for the chaos after?"

 

Steve paces back and fourth, the people in the room shifting uncomfortably, already divided down the room. He glances at Widow, who looks away. "I see. Well I'm not doing it. This isn't freedom. This is fear."

 

"Who do we answer to? What makes us any better then the people we fight, if we answer to nobody Captain? Think about it? And don't think I don't know about your best friend. Killed my fucking parents. We're registering. And he's the first one I'm going after. Try and stop me."

 

"He was brainwashed. It wasn't his fault."

 

"Tell that to my parents," Iron Man holds up his arm, the repulsor lighting up, and Steve defends the blow with his SHIELD, as the room goes into chaos, and Captain America, Sam Wilson, Wanda, and Hawkeye escape.

 

"Well," Tony looks around, his face plate up, breathing heavily. "Welcome to team Iron Man. Gonna be a blast," He turns to Rhodes. "Find Barnes. I want eyes and ears every-fucking where. Somebody comments about him, I want to know about it. Bring me the damn Winter Soldier."

 

 

Hawkeye lands the jet at the safe house that Fury set up for them. "This is it. I don't know where he is, but he's out there somewhere behind the scenes micromanaging something, I'm sure," he turns to Steve. "Any idea where your old pal is? Cause Stark isn't going to back down. He's got the government on his side now, unlimited resources. More than he's ever had before. It's amazing what a little power can do to a giant asshole."

 

Wanda looks up from cleaning Sam's cut on his arm. "He's scared. Fear makes men do stupid things."

 

"Well if we don't get to Barnes before Stark does, then the world is going to be one less super soldier. Though I'm sure Barnes can handle his own, I'm not sure he's been up against the Bleeding Edge armor. Damn that suit is lethal. Leave it to to Stark to be retired, but build his most deadly suit yet. Widow was impressed with it, and she hates Stark."

 

"Then why did she side with him?" Steve demands, looking up from his SHIELD, his blue eyes shining in defeat as he attempts to discover his next move. Bucky was somewhere in the world, and they haven't had any intel on his whereabouts in months. Months! His best friend didn't want to be found, and he wasn't surprised. He was sure that for being assassin all those years, Bucky learned more than blending in. He was never caught. He was a ghost story. Even Widow went after him and came up with a dead end, and she's the most deadly huntress he knew.

 

"Natasha is many things. Vague is one of them."

 

"Well. We gotta find him," Sam hisses as Wanda puts disinfectant on his arm. "Damn Rhodey. Thought we were damn friends. Friends don't slice each other open!"

 

"We'll find him," Steve says. "Let's get busy. Leave no stone un-turned." _Can't afford to._

 

 

 

"The doctor?" Crossbones crossed his arms, staring at the Red Skull in front of him? He heard the stories, saw the pictures, but still didn't believe that it was humanly possible. It shouldn't be possible that this could possibly be an actual human man. _Could it?_ "You know who this woman is?" He watches the skull place the needle to the woman's arm? "She's tiny. She's also very important to a guy that is basically a prince of the universe. It's like testing fate!"

 

"I know the woman. She once held the power of the God's. You think her only human, think again man. She's more than you know, and will be greater!" Red Skull's flare for the dramatic had not changed.

 

The woman moans as the needle pierces her arm, and her head rolls from side to side as her body takes the serum. It was nothing remarkable. To be honest, he was expecting some big dramatic change all at once. He was sorely mistaken. He stands at her head and watches the tiny woman. Beautiful in her own right, and a tiny wave a fear rushes through him. Nobody on earth knew the extent of Thor's true power. Fury, in his notes, even commented on it. The God always had something new up his sleeve. And now here they were messing with the woman closest to his heart.

 

If he came, he'd have no problem singing like a bird.

 

 

 

 

Bucky watches from his spot in the tree as the Red Skull, and whom he recalls as Crossbones, surround the woman. A shot now would kill the woman, with the two men on either side of her, bent over her body. He can see the serum has already been injected. He failed in that respect. _Damn Skull. He knew somebody would be coming!_ He adjusts the com in his ear, and listens to Fury, and the woman named Hill assess the situation outside.

 

"No guards outside," Fury is whispering into his ear piece, letting Barnes know they were ready when he was. "What's it like up there, Barnes?"

 

"They've her surrounded. I can't take a shot without missing her. I'm not going to blow their brains out. That's not pretty. I don't want to scare her. They've definitely injected her."

 

"Who's they? Is the Skull there?" Hill is concerned. She's become close to the woman, they were friends, and she was emotional at the fact she couldn't protect her from them. "Who is all in there?"

 

"The Skull. And Crossbones. It's Rumlow. He was next on my list."

 

"Thought he died."

 

"Of course you did."

 

He watches the men, _can he truthfully call them that?_ The mutants. He watches the mutants as they watch the woman, and in a final act of desperation, he had to get the girl. No one deserved the harsh reality that came with the serum. "I'm taking the Skull first. Don't know if anything will kill him. I'll take Rumlow second. Act quickly. At most it'll piss them off. I can't take a lethal shot while she's there." He lowers to the ground looking through the window, the men were talking, looked more like arguing, but he doesn't care, and fires one perfect shot into Skull's side, the power slamming him into the wall, he watches with great satisfaction before he knocks off Rumlow, stunning his former handler as Fury breaks down the door and ices Rumlow, grabbing the woman off the table and runs out. 

 

Any fight against the skull would've turned deadly, Barnes fired another round into the Skull, but not before the Skull caught his eye and grins.

 

He remembers him.

 

 

The woman was tiny, cold, beautiful. She was shaking. Violent shakes shook her body as the serum took effect.  He remembers that. "Cuff her hands. Don't let her hurt herself. Her body will want to reject it."

 

Maria wipes a cool cloth over her head as she watches the news. "They passed the law. the SHRA. Looks like Tony and Cap are divided. They're hunting Cap's team." She turns down and looks at the girl, wincing when she moans. "Come on Jane, you're stronger than this. Fight this. We need you here."

 

"Jane?" Bucky set up, alert. "Jane Foster? This is Dr. Jane Foster?"

 

"Yeah. Why?" Fury leans forward as he takes her pulse.

 

"I was supposed to protect her. I never found her. The blonde one. He's dead."

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jane is full on snark mode, Bucky is amused, and Darcy enters the scene. Betty worries about her daughter, and Jane's previous connection with SHIELD is maybe not so accidental.

_Cancer?_ All Jane could think of when she woke up to a dark room, with a light hanging from the ceiling above her. _Cancer. How the fuck is that even possible? I’m young. I’m healthy? I fucking held one of the most powerful weapons in the universe in my fucking body, and I get cancer? I run every day! Does running for your life count? I count it. It’s still fucking running! I eat healthy! I even got the strawberry poptarts last time! How the fuck do you get cancer from that?!_ She sits up and looks around. _Nobody’s here. Why the fuck am I here? Where am I even at?_

 

Memories were a blur. She remembers exiting the doctors lab in London? _Yes London. I was calling my dad. Bruce. Haven’t seen him in five months. Where is he at anyway? Where did he go?_ She knew she’d have better luck with her mom. Right then though, she wanted her dad’s warm words. She remembers someone following her. She ran. _I ran. See exercise?_   The world went black. She woke up here? Where am I? She sits up and winces at the pain in her side, it’s ebbing quickly. That’s weird. Looking around she watches her surroundings. Hell’s eyes shouldn’t be so blue.

 

“Lay back down. They’re testing you,” the odd timber with a slight accent. Brooklyn? “You’ve been hit pretty hard.”

 

_You have no fucking idea_. “Where am I?” “Safehouse. You don’t need to know anything else. Relax.” She lays back down and glares at the light above her. _I want my mom. My dad. Anybody. Where the fuck am I? Where’s Thor? I miss him? And who the hell is sir piss a-lot?_ She grins at her joke, letting out a soft giggle, then groans at the pain in her side.

 

“Don’t do that. Don’t move.”

 

“It’s the twenty first century. And I’m not your bitch,” Jane hisses through the pain. “Fucking hurts! Damnit.”

 

“My bitch?” His brow furrows as he steps closer. “What does that mean?”

 

_Yep. Brooklyn. Did Brooklyn even have accents like that anymore?_ _That’s like old school, gang movie, Marlyn Brando in Guys and Dolls,(damnit Darcy for making me watch that. Culture change my fucking ass.) Pure Brando. Smooth, sexy Brooklyn._ She looks at him carefully, before staring at the ceiling again. _Sexier than Brando. Didn’t make men like that anymore._ ”Never mind. Where am I? You never answered. And who the fuck are you?”

 

“Such language for a pretty dame like you.”

 

“Dame?” Who says dame? Steve says dame, maybe he knows Steve! Steve can get me the hell out of here!

 

”Do you know Steve? Steve Rogers? He’s my friend. Can you find my phone for me? I need to call him. I need his help. He can help. Ineedtocallhim!” The last came out in a rush as she started to panic, her reality setting in. She was really in no position to make demands, and truthfully, the stranger hadn’t hurt her. Yet. But he truly showed no interest in hurting her, and even had been trying to keep her from hurting herself.

 

His voice is a little softer now. “I think I know’em. But right now he’s unavailable. Somethin’s going on right now that he needs to take care of. And you need to rest. Don’t worry about that. We’ll get out of here soon enough. Just know that you’re safe, and healthy right now.”

 

_Healthy? Healthy my fucking ass._ She looks around again and notices Fury and Maria Hill. I know them. Fucking SHIELD. Well except Maria. She’s chill. Fucking Pirate SHIELD director. _What the hell is he doing here?_

 

They notice her staring and step forward. “Miss Fos- Banner,” Fury starts, clearing his throat uncomfortably. It’s clear that he needs to work on his bedside manners. “Dr. Foster. Do you know what happened to you? You’ve been missing three days. We lost the trail, and traced it back to a London clinic before running cold. Do you know where your father is? Your mother? Do you know where Miss Lewis is? Thor?”

 

_Three days? It’s been three fucking days since that fucking doctor’s appointment ruined my life. Where the fuck has time gone? What happened to me? Where am I? Why won’t anybody tell me where I am.?_

 

When it’s clear that Jane is not going to respond Maria steps forward offering her a cool towel, SHIELD logo, go figure, and a glass of water to which Jane accepts gratefully. Her throat is awfully dry. Too dry. Which brings her back to the point of, “What happened to me? Where am I?”

 

“You were kidnapped, Miss,” Sir Piss A Lot, began. “HYDRA has been keeping an eye on you, and they made their move. I’ve been taking out rogue operatives, but there’s too many of ‘em. The ones that took you are different. I can’t explain it too you without you getting upset though, and we got to keep your blood pressure down, until we can get a reading on your heart. There’s a doctor comin’, he should be here soon.”

 

_Kidnapped? Damnit! I’m fucking tired of playing the damsel! When do I get to play my own damn hero? Never now since my body decided to betray me. I’m dying. I was kidnapped, and I’m dying. And I really, really want a._. “Poptart?”

 

Maria laughs and sits back. “We don’t have any of those, but we do have some soup for you when you’re ready. We want you to keep down this water first.”

 

“You haven’t been keeping nothin’ down.”

 

“How long have I been here? When did you guys find me?” “Well. We got to you maybe ten hours after you were takien. Your captors knew what they were doing, but we’re better at our jobs. I located you, Fury called in reinforcement. That took some time.” Maria turns and glares at Piss A Lot. “Sergeant Barnes was able to injure them while Fury and I got you out. That’s all he could do. The men that took you, well, they’re out of this world.”

 

“Asgardian?”

 

“No.”

 

“Oh. Wait Sergeant Barnes?” She turns and looks at Piss A Lot. “That’s you? Why does that name sound familiar?” The man shifts uncomfortably, and folds his arms across his body, and looks at Fury who shrugs.

 

“Sergeant Barnes is a friend to Captain Rogers, he was a-“

 

“Holy Zombies. You’re the fucking Winter Soldier? You’re _that_ Sergeant Barnes?” She’s been to the Smithsonian, and by definition of her two doctorates and three masters degrees, one she completely last year by the young age of 28, thank you very much, she wasn’t stupid. “Dude that’s fucking bad ass. Oh my god, I’m so happy right now. Well, except what they did to you, that sucked.”

 

“How do you know that information, Dr. Foster,” Fury hisses.

 

“Stark, duh.” She rolls her eyes and Piss A Lot/Sergeant Barnes, _is that a smirk? A smile from the Winter Soldier. Interesting. Hmm he should do that more often._ “So you were like a sniper? Wait. The other day. I think. Might have been a longer time ago? What day is? Anyway. The other day, I was in Switzerland at the Hadron Collider. The assassination of the tour guide. That was you? Everyone went crazy. That was a clean shot.” She would know, she was kind of an army brat. Grandfather a general and all. “I haven’t shot a gun in a long time. I miss it.”

 

“You shoot?” The look on his face was pure surprise. No other way to describe it.

 

“Only for fun. Not for that yucky stuff you did back there. Though. If he was a HYDRA thug, _well done piss a lot!_ He laughs and her heart beats a little faster.

 

“Well, I tend not to stay for clean-up. That’s not my job.”

 

She giggles and sits up, slow Jane. Yes, slow. You can do this. “I’m really hungry. Soup sounds amazing.”

 

Maria springs into action while Fury still glares at her, and Piss A Lot helps her. “Be careful. Don’t want to hurt anything.” “Thanks.” _Thanks for saving my life. Kind of. Damn I need my dad._

 

 

 

Darcy props her feet on her father’s workstation table, the stool slightly lower than the table, so her skirt hangs down, so she uses her hands to keep it in place. She sighs, waiting for her father. Granted he didn’t know she was here, well Friday may have told him now. _Of course he’s avoiding you. He always does, why would today be any different?_ She blows a bubble and pops it loudly, as she works a file over her nails. Jane was missing. She was worried. Thor hadn’t come back, and now, there was this stupid SHRA. To make things worse, her own father supported the damn law, which legally had no surface or legs to stand on!

 

_Sometimes I wonder where I get my smarts from, and then I realize, it’s my mother._

 

“Doesn’t your mother have get you this weekend,” Tony Stark was full on snark mode, and Darcy couldn’t wait to counter it. She had a bad week, and nobody could out snark her today. “I’m pretty sure the custody papers say I get you the second and last weekend of every month.”

 

“And I’m pretty sure I’m twenty five years old. And even when the custody papers were a legal document when I was a minor, you never followed them anyway. I always loved my I’m sorry I couldn’t make it to your recital gifts that Pepper would always send, followed by that brand new Mercedes that I ran into the pole of your mansion on purpose to destroy your fucking robot butler. I loved it.”

 

“What are you doing here? If you hate me so fucking much.”

 

“I hear you have yourself a little team, which is illegally trying to imprison, super people.”

 

“You don’t know anything.”

 

“Um actually, I do. And I find it funny, that three of maybe the last four disastrous events was actually caused by you. What’s the matter? Guilty conscience from the man with no heart?”

 

“I have a heart!”

 

“You have a fucking black hole, in the middle of your fucking chest! You’re trying to do this as a way to correct your wrongs. And _that’s_ wrong. And I’m not going to let this go. You think you’re the only Stark on a power play,” she rises to her feet. “Get ready, because you haven’t seen anything yet, dad,” she pokes him hard in the chest, then stomps out of the room. “Friday. Find Jane.”

 

 

 

Betty Ross clings to her phone as she listens to the message she’s been playing over and over again. Her daughter sounded upset through her voice mail, then it just hung up. There was something she was missing. _She had an appointment the other day, right? Why hasn’t she called in three days? Maybe she found Bruce. She missed Bruce._ There were times in the last few months, her daughter, her precious daughter would fly home just so she could hug her mom. She missed her dad so much. After the attack by Ultron, Thor had left, that didn’t bug her as much as her dad. She thought they were really building a relationship, so did Jane, and then all of the sudden he vanished. Something isn't right right. Bruce, wouldn’t deliberately leave their daughter like that.

 

There was a time when she and Jane were the most important people in his life. Then the serum went so terribly wrong. Jane was young at the time, entering college. He was so proud of his baby. Her genius level of academia in everything she did, reminded him of his mother. Damnit it Bruce, answer your phone. Find our girl!

 

She’d moved on, of course. The man she married, was a very important part of Jane’s life too. He believed in her, pushed her to her limits when she didn’t want to go further. They had that sort of friendship that Betty herself had with her own step-father. She was happy. But Jane needed Bruce. Bruce understood the weirdness of her life. She misses her ex. She worries for her daughter. And she needs her husband. He would know what to do. She dials him.

 

 

“Phil. Have you heard from Jane? _Please_ tell me, you’ve heard from Jane.”

 

 

Coulson shakes his head softly. “I’m sorry. I haven’t. But we’re looking into it, baby.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I love bad ass, snarky Jane! Review!


	3. Chapter 3

Somewhere along the line Steve lost himself. The old Steve wasn't as jaded as the one he viewed in the mirror now. _You don't know who to trust._ The man who fell in love with his best friend, went into war, went into the ice, that was the Steve his ma raised him to be. Not this, this haggard, jaded man.

 

 _How do you find a Soviet Operative who is the epitome of a ghost story?_ Especially when he _doesn't_ want to be found. The search for Bucky was still going strong. A number of leads found them all over the globe. Bucky was smart. Of course he was. He remembers the creative jerk that made it so impossible for him not to trust him on specific missions back in the War. A lot of the HYDRA bases were impossible to take by land force, that's where the creative little shit did his best work.

 

A master assassin.

 

A master at hiding.

 

A master, indeed.

 

Sam was a rock in a hard place, always looking at the possibilities that this was good. HYDRA no longer had their hands on the chord, twisting him into a brainwashed human being bent on killing anyone who stood in their way. Obviously though, people still feared the Winter Soldier on the loose. The number of casualties the Winter Soldier took amounted to twelve people total. Twelve. The number was too low to believe, but the Soldier never took the lives of those he was not sent to take. Anyone who tried to stop him, generally got caught in the crossfires of another fire. Natasha was prime example. Shooting her, in a non-fatal area. The total was twelve, twelve lives. Too bad two of those lives were Howard and Maria Stark. 

 

_Damn._

 

He runs a wash cloth over his face before exiting to face his group again. The whole of them have been exhausting themselves. Cold leads on the Winter Soldier didn't necessarily mean a free pass. Half the time, he'd been there, and agitated a whole bunch of people, leaving them to pick up the pieces.  "What do we have next?"

 

Sam steps up and hands him a paper. "Doctor Foster."

 

"Thor's girl? What about her?"

 

"We're not sure if Thor has made contact, but we know he hasn't in a very long time. My contact is worried. Something doesn't seem right."

 

"Why? We know he went to Asgard to research something, about the gems, right?" Steve looks down at the paper in his hand, a picture of the stunning brunette, speaking at a conference of some sort. She was a tiny thing, but probably the only person on earth who could actually take down Thor. She had a wit, he remembered, that rivaled Tony Stark, but still had that same calm demeanor, that reminded him of her father. She was down right scary. Probably the most powerful woman in the world, and she didn't even know it.

 

A princess of the galaxy in-waiting of some sorts.

 

"Well. She was taken,"

 

"WHAT?" Steve interrupts looking up from the picture again. "Where? When?"

 

"A week ago. London. That trail is cold. Our contact is searching for her, but it's been radio silence the last three days. The things is. He thinks some pretty bad things could have happened to her. Thor didn't/hasn't returned. I guess he returned right away when the Aether was involved? SHIELD has been tracking her for some time, her record is astounding. She's smart. It's no wonder that HYDRA wants her. Well that, and her father is Bruce Banner."

 

"You think he got her? Bucky, I mean?"

 

"I don't think that's his style, honestly Steve. I don't think he's after SHIELD assets. A lot of the assassinations are known HYDRA operatives. And they're assassinations not kidnappings. She was taken in broad day light. And anything description identifying the Winter Soldier was not found. Last time we talked our contact was searching for him. Now we have no connection to that contact. _That's_ what I'm really worried about. If we can't find him, who's to say Tony already hasn't?"

 

 _Damn._ "So we search that much harder to find a lead?" He looks around the room, his team at the ready.

 

"Another thing. Stark has a fancy new set of armor. It's a nightmare. We have someone inside looking into it, but there's no guarantee they'll be able to do anything about it. We may be dealing with a force that's too big fore even us. I'll make my way to San Fransisco tomorrow. Maybe I can get this guy on board sooner rather than later. He can do some internal damage, but we really need that insider."

 

"Who's the insider?"

 

Sam grins, slow and wide. "For me to know, and you to never find out. You focus on leading the mission, Captain. We're on your six."

 

Truthfully, he was glad that Sam refused to tell him. He knew he couldn't lie well. It was one of the traits that Bucky teased him the most growing up. _On our way, Pal. Don't get yourself killed before that._

 

"Let's start from the beginning. Let's find Dr. Foster. She may hold the key." He hoped she was still alive. 

 

 

 

The woman next to him was getting better. Looking like death the day they found her, she now had some color in her cheeks, no matter that she was as solemn as ever. Maria said that Jane constantly was wearing her 'thinking' face, these last two days. "She misses her father, I think. We haven't been able to locate him. He kind of just vanished."

 

_Her father? Did I kill her father?_

 

"Don't worry, Sergeant Barnes. This guy is indestructible." She turns and watches Jane again. "I can't tell if the serum actually worked."

 

He shakes his head, looking at the tiny woman, not four feet in front of them, staring at a tablet that Fury gave her to entertain herself with. This was a hard set for a civilian. He knew. He'd been in her spot before. "It hasn't been activated. You have to activate it. It has to infuse in her major muscle groups, before it can take over your body."

 

"How do you activate it?"

 

"I don't know." He shrugs in the most non Winter Soldier way, and makes his way towards Jane. The woman had calmed him down reasonably enough, so that he was no longer nervous in front of Maria or Fury. Basically she had told Fury to stop acting like a _Pirate Asshole_ , and told Maria to stop being his guinea pig. She had a way with words. He knew what she was feeling, sort of. He missed his family too. He also knew that she was confused. They had told her that she had been injected with the serum. God only knew if it worked. She had a right to know. All she did was pale a little before stiffening, and retreating to her corner. She wasn't anti-social by any means. But he knew she trusted no one in the room.

 

The fact that she let him anywhere near her person was a relief. She was probably the best therapy he'd had in weeks.

 

She smiles up at him as he settles beside her. She's watching a show of some sort, and it's making her laugh. He decides he likes it, if only for that reason. She had a nice laugh. This waiting game was not any fun at all. Most soldiers are relieved to not see any action, but HYDRA was in his blood, and he needed to weed it out. Not sit here, and wait for cold leads that could lead him to getting killed again.

 

He remembers. Of course he remembers. The man on the bridge, Steve, his best friend, lover, Steve Rogers, Captain Fucking America with that tight spangly costume. He hasn't been wiped in a long time. He does remember the pain, and then not remembering, and then remembering again, and then the pain would return. He thinks it was the serum. He had a different kind than Steve. Zola was a smart son of a bitch. While both serums made the soldiers basically indestructible, Steve's, he remembers focused more on the body, his Zola's focused more on the mind. And even then it didn't work.

 

He leans back, scratches his neck a little and watches her select another episode. "They sure didn't have those growing up. They had radio."

 

"How boring."

 

"You have no idea."

 

"I have some. I remember being grounded a handful of times, the radio kind of saved my life from three weeks of silence in my room."

 

"You were grounded," his eyebrows raise in surprise. "What's a dame like you gettin into trouble for? I don't buy it, beautiful. Try again." She giggles. _She giggles._ There were few sounds he missed so dearly from back then, a dame giggling at him was one of them. _Nothing better than a beautiful dame's laughter._

 

"I never really got in trouble by my mom or dad. Mostly by my grandfather. He thought it best to make sure I had good morals. And now here I am. Three false positive pregnancies later, and I'm still disappointing him silently. The best thing I did to my grandfather, was start to date Thor, because Thor was a guy he couldn't intimidate at all."

 

 _Thor._ He remembers Thor. _Thor clutching his shoulders, almost near death, begging him to take care of Jane._ And the dark god beside him letting him know he was keeping his eyes on him, holding up his brother, trying to keep tears from his eyes. Something happened. But he didn't know that Thor meant this woman. This Jane. And why him? _Why me?_

 

 _"Because, of all the people on Earth that can actually focus on her with an honest heart, it's you. Earth is still struggling, and what was done to you was unfair, Soldier. But I know your intentions to ride humanity of this offensive group are pure, if not vengeful. And I know when the time comes, you will be the one to best protect, on earth what's rightfully Asgard's, and will always be Asgard's, regardless of the condition it is in now. Guard her. I'll be watching. That's an order."_ The black haired god, didn't intimidate him, but it was clear he was protective of Jane Foster. And he wasn't about to go against a god. 

 

He moves as she settles next to him, her eyes questioning him if she can sit under his arm. It's come to be her favorite place. Maybe she needs to feel warm. His heart hopes it's because she feels safe next to him. He lifts his arm, and settles it around her shoulder is she pushes play, mumbling about good wi-fi reception in this place.

 

"You doing ok today, James? You've been quiet."

 

"I'm always quiet."

 

"Yeah. Well. there's just too much quiet here. I can't think when it's quiet."

 

"Well. Maybe your mind needs a slow down. Like a vacation?"

 

"I don't take vacations. Too much to do."

 

"Well maybe you should start?"

 

"Yeah," she's quiet and she bites her lip, and he wants to bite it himself. He refrains, and just pulls her in closer. "Yeah I should."

 

"What's wrong now, doll?"

 

"Nothing. It's nothing."

 

He reaches over, and pushes what she's told him is the pause button, and pulls her into his lap. Probably the most paternal thing he's done in his life at the moment, then he realizes he doesn't want paternal at this moment, so he shifts her back down, opens his legs, and settles her between them. Her back to his chest, and he hugs her from behind. She welcomes his hugs, if not for a tiny hint of sadness in her eyes after each one. _She misses her father._ He asks her again. "Tell me? I'm not going anywhere."

 

She's quiet, and he thinks he pushed her too far, before she sighs deeply, resigned almost. "I guess. I just- that day, I was taken, I got some bad news. And I'm scared. I haven't told any of those people important to me. I've tried. I just haven't had time. I was there, now I'm here. I want my dad. He always knows what to do, and he's gone. And then I realize, the last moments he spent with any friends were in battle, and that they were with a woman he liked and he couldn't even bother to tell me himself," an air of bitterness creeps into her voice. "I needed, I need him, just as much as she did. He wasn't there. He's not here. And now I don't know what to do, because I can't call him. I can't call my mom. I can't call my step-dad. I can't call my grandfather. I can't call my Darcy. And Thor, I don't know where he is at all. He never even told me goodbye the last time he came. Damnit! And now I'm mad at Thor too! And I just don't want to waste my energy on feelings that I don't know exactly what I'm feeling. It was so much easier when it was just me. Now I have to focus on everyone. I hate that I feel selfish for this."

 

"What was the news, beautiful? I'm assuming it was bad, based on your soliloquy." She raises a brow. James Barnes had fancy words.

 

"I have cancer. Breast Cancer. And I need my dad. He can help." She's  in tears and his heart breaks for his new fried.

 

His breath catches in his throat. _I can help. I have to help._ He looks up and catches a glimpse of Maria, shiny eyed in the corner. She nods.

 

They'd find a way. The serum would make it better. It had to.


	4. Chapter 4

Jane looks up at Bucky who's handing her some pain medicine, and shakes her head slightly. "I want to try some more time without it." His grimace turns into a smile and he pockets the pills so she knows where they are later, if she needs them, and sits next to her. "I'm getting bored. There's only so much Netflix, one can watch."

 

He nods his understanding, and lays back against the raggedy couch with a sigh. "I'm not sure what we're waiting on. They're trying to get a location on someone called Banner."

 

"Banner? My dad? Why?"

 

His eyes widen. "Didn't know he was your father. I don't know. They think he can help with the serum. If we can get it activated, I have no doubt it will alleviate all of your problems. The problem is, I don't know how, because Steve and I's were activated two totally different ways, and I wasn't even conscious when mine was done. I don't know much about what you have, but you seem scared. No dame should be as scared as you, besides the obvious you were kidnapped by a maniac."

 

Jane swallows hard, and stares ahead for a few minutes, letting the silence linger between them. Of the four people in this room, she'd come to trust a perfect stranger the most. Mainly because he hadn't done anything to misuse her trust. Then again. She doesn't know how that would even happen since they've been stuck here. Maria was gone. She had an appearance to put on for Stark Industries, but she was quickly replaced by Agent Carter, SHIELD's CIA liaison, apparently, SHIELD still existed, which begged the question. _What the hell had Phil been doing all this time?_ She smiles thinking about the man her mother married almost five years ago, he was good for her, and even though at first, she really really hated him, _he stole my things!_ She's come around to respect the man as a second father almost. She remembers the day her mother introduced him. 

 

_Phil. This is my daughter Jane. Jane, this is-_

 

_Thief._

 

_I was doing my job._

 

_Too bad you're not good at it!_

 

They've come a long way since then. She missed him. Actually missed him. She wanted him here instead of Fury. Bucky had been a warm pair of arms to her the last few days, but with everything that's been going on, health wise, he wasn't her father. 

 

"I know you're trying to be nice, and I'm not necessarily reciprocating it. So I'll bite. What's got you upset today? You've been doing ok, I think. I've never thought to ask you about you."

 

He smiles that shy Brooklyn boy smile, and runs a hand through his hair, and it's the least tense she's seen him. He looks younger almost, carefree. "I don't remember much about myself doll. Just a few bits. Flash backs."

 

"Do you remember how you got this?" She taps his metal arm gently. "How you got it." There was that hair thing again. This time it made her a little weak in the knees. "Tell me." She takes his metal hand in hers, clasping it gently.

 

"I remember falling, from a train. And waking up, and there was only a stub. Just to right here," Bucky motions to his elbow. "It was there, and I remember them injecting me with something. I think it was that serum. I think I was experimented on before when my troop got captured. Steve rescued me. I remember him. The man on the bridge. I think that's how I survived. I remember the cold after that. They froze me."

 

"They froze you?" He nods seriously. "Like suspended animation. I remember something like that being in Steve's medical files. I was there, when they found him. He wend down in the Red Skull's plane, after that final battle. Froze for seventy years, or what not. He's not much older biologically than you are. He's been out for about four years now."

 

"I didn't know about Steve. I remember going in and out of the cold. I was defrosted only to be injected with more serum, I remember electricity. My head hurt. That doctor. I remember 'im. Sadistic bastard worked for Red Skull. I was froze again."

 

"So they froze you, thawed you, then froze you again?"

 

"I think so."

 

"Must have been painful. We monitored Steve's heart rate once it started again. He was in distress a lot, because of pain. Nothing worked on him though. His metabolism burned through it so fast that we couldn't get him comfortable until he was back to regular temperature again."

 

"I remember pain. Pain was not an option. If you were in pain they only made it worse on you. I would remember coming out of thaw, I would remember not to flinch."

 

She glides a finger over his gently, and moans softly for his pain. "So the electricity they used. That must have been a brainwashing technique." He nods. "Damn. HYDRA bastards. Makes sense. I'm guessing the serum would take care of it eventually, and since you were one of the people fighting against HYDRA, they realized that the serum worked to fast for them to break you down. So they would fry you, freeze you, then thaw you for a few hours to do what they needed you to do. They'd fry you before they froze you, because that would stop the serum from healing you. What about this? You didn't get this arm right away?"

 

"No. The Red Skull doctor wasn't there for some time after. I lost track of time. I was on ice most of the time. But I remember changing technology. Maybe ten. Fifteen years? They cut off the rest of my arm, up to my shoulder, and I woke up with this. I don't remember."

 

"How did they sedate you?"

 

"I don't know. I just remember waking up to this."

 

"I wonder if you were coming out of Cryo?"

 

"I could'a been."

 

"I'm surprised you remember all that even. That serum must be pretty powerful."

 

"If ya saw Steve before, you'd know that to be true."

 

"I heard he was a little guy. I saw the exhibit. He was adorable."

 

"He was my friend. While I'm glad he's not in pain anymore, I would never wish this fate on anyone. And now you. I swear to you Jane. We'll figure out how to activate you. It'll make you better. We'll protect you."

 

She shakes her head, slightly and gives him her brightest smile. "I'm not worried about that right now. I've lived a life beyond my wildest dreams. I still have options even if the serum isn't activated. I'll live. Don't you worry about me."

 

"Too late for that baby-doll. Now come on. Take this medicine, since it actually works on you still, and lay down and take a nap. I'll be right here waiting."

 

A nap didn't seem like a bad idea. Neither did the laying her head against his lap either, and while she was falling asleep to his stroking of her hair, she heard him whisper. "Thank you Jane. Nobody's asked me to remember like that before."


End file.
